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The first appearance of the bursts occurred in perfect synchronization over a span of 24 hours in 2257. They were scattered across 30,000 light years of the Milky Way Galaxy and would have required energy beyond Starfleet's understanding to produce. (DIS: "Brother")

The Klingons also detected the bursts, and had no explanation for them. High Chancellor L'Rell confirmed to AmbassadorSarek that they were not responsible. Kol-Sha interpreted them as an ill omen for L'Rell's rule: "seven drops of blood" ready to rain down on the Klingon people. (DIS: "Brother", "Point of Light")

Spock had foreknowledge of the red bursts, which he first saw as a child. This prompted him to take a leave of absence from the USS Enterprise. Before his departure, he left encrypted data about the bursts in his final personal log entry, in case he did not return. (DIS: "Brother")

The initial set of seven signals appearing in perfect synchronization were picked up by Federation sensors but disappeared again after just enough time to get a reading, with the exception of one signal.

Sometime after the initial series of bursts, a second signal was detected. The transmission was too faint to determine the exact coordinates using regular means but was eventually pinpointed to a distant region of the Beta Quadrant. The signal was 51,450 light years away from the location of the ship. Using its spore drive, Discovery was able to reach the location of this new burst, the planet of Terralysium immediately. Once there, Discovery found a previously unknown settlement of Humans. They were descendants of people saved from World War III by a mysterious entity.

Shortly after arrival, Discovery prevented radioactive debris from wiping out the planet's Human inhabitants. The burst was also visible from the planet's surface. (DIS: "New Eden")

Discovery detected a third burst in orbit of Kaminar, the homeworld of the Kelpien species, which included first officer CommanderSaru. As had been the case on Terralysium, the burst had been visible from the surface; Siranna, Saru's sister and priest of their village, referred to it as a "fiery sign". (DIS: "The Sound of Thunder")

After enacting their plan to attract the Red Angel, which involved exposing Burhnam to the toxicatmosphere of the planet, they waited for the Angel to arrive. The plan worked and a burst soon appeared in orbit of the planet. The Angel arrived on the surface and revived Burnham; after which she was captured and revealed to be Burnham's mother. (DIS: "The Red Angel")

Holding Gabrielle Burnham and the Red Angel suit on Essof IV caused gravitational distortions. Shortly after the Red Angel was captured, Leland's body was taken over by Control. While pretending to be Leland, Control ordered Georgiou and Tyler to steal the Sphere's data archive from Discovery. Eventually, Georgiou realized Leland wasn't who he seemed, and she stopped the upload; leading to an altercation on the surface.